Back to Ukraine: Wizz Air CEO’s baffling plans about Eastern expansion

The CEO of the Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, talked about the company’s plans at a lunch of the English Aviation Club.

Regarding Wizz Air’s return to Ukraine, he said that the Hungarian company would be the first to reenter the marker when the war was over. We wrote before that when the Russian invasion started, Wizz Air had four planes in Ukraine, three in Kyiv, and one in Lviv. Last September, the aircraft in West Ukraine could escape from the war-torn country and flew to Katowice in Poland. However, three Airbuses are still in Kyiv, and it does not seem they will be able to get out soon. Anyway, the company plans to return to the Ukrainian market as soon as the fight is over, Budflyer wrote.

Mr Váradi told his audience in the English Aviation Club that they would expand their fleet with brand new Airbus A321XLR planes from 2024 year-end. But they will not commute from Hungary. Their base will be in the United Kingdom and the Middle East.

József Váradi:

Wizz Air ready to conquer the East instead of the West

He added that the Middle Eastern market is changing, and Wizz Air would like to be part of that. “There are a lot of opportunities to expand in the region and Central Asia”, he highlighted. He said they would like to continue to expand towards the East.

He also mentioned the hardships concerning air traffic. He said this summer would be difficult, but they prepared for the warm season to avoid the high number of cancellations like in 2022. He believes that the biggest challenge of 2023 will be European air traffic control. That is because there is a staff shortage, and capacities are narrow because of the war-caused closures. Furthermore, military air traffic increased, restricting commercial flights.

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